Houma man happy to join VOA board

Houma couple falls through cracks in police procedures
September 6, 2016
Keeping up with The Times
September 6, 2016
Houma couple falls through cracks in police procedures
September 6, 2016
Keeping up with The Times
September 6, 2016

A local hospital administrator has joined the board of a prominent charity with programs in the Bayou Region.

David Konur, the chief executive officer of the Cardiovascular Institute of the South in Houma, joined the Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans board of directors in July. Konur has been the CEO of CIS since 1999, having previously worked at Terrebonne General Medical Center.


VOA is a nationwide charity that provides social services and housing for underserved communities. The Greater New Orleans chapter has multiple projects in Houma, including the Bayou Cane Apartments, a workforce housing apartment complex. The VOA is also turning the old Houma Elementary School into a 103-unit elderly housing complex, with a May 2017 completion date scheduled.

Konur, who has been involved with the VOA for around 12 years, helped bring those projects to the Houma area. He facilitated meetings between Jim LeBlanc, president of the GNO chapter, and then-Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet a few years ago. Konur said he has seen the VOA’s work in Terrebonne reap personal benefits.

“I have some CIS employees that are living there now, single moms that were struggling who now have a great, safe place to raise their families. I think that’s the kind of projects that the VOA does so well,” Konur said.


Konur said he feels the charity’s expertise at providing for people in “gap situations,” where there is a gap between what people can afford and what is available in from a social services and support standpoint in a certain area.

“You contribute dollars to a cause, and you want to believe that not only are 100 percent of the dollars going to the cause, but they’re being used wisely. And I’ve always felt with the dollars I’ve contributed to VOA, they were turned into real services that help people in these gap situations,” Konur said.

Konur said he plans to advocate for increased VOA services in the Bayou Region. He said he thinks there are gaps in behavioral health outpatient services, particularly down the bayous. He would also like to see gaps in services for those with intellectual disabilities covered and an increase in maternal counseling and adoption services.


“I’m honored to have been asked to serve on the board, and hopefully I’ll be able to bring more services to the Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary area. •

David Konur